his heart in knowledge and faith, for these are the greatest pleasures, and their sweetness is the greatest sweetness.

His enjoyment itself, even if it arises from his state of ease, is a reward in its own right. A Muslim is rewarded for his deeds and the deeds arising from them; and for the enjoyment he derives from this, he is rewarded with something still more delightful. Thus he continually enjoys his Lord’s blessings and bounty.

But to infer that something is permissible or recommended in religion merely because a person finds a sound pleasing, a child is drawn to it, or animals find comfort in it is among the gravest forms of misguidance. This is common among those who worship Allah without knowledge grounded in revelation.

It is well known that children and animals find comfort in eating and drinking. Does this establish that every kind of eating and drinking is good and enjoined?

The fundamental error in these weak arguments is that they give general application to what is specific, both in explicitly stated scriptural evidence and in the general formulations they derive. They appeal to wording in the Quran and Sunnah that permits or commends a particular kind of listening, then include listening to whistling and clapping within its scope. Or they appeal to the considerations that establish the permissibility or recommended status of a particular kind of sound or listening, and extend these to listening to whistling and clapping.

This equates things that Allah has distinguished, like the analogy drawn by those who said, “Trade is only like